The film's executive producers—Howard Braunstein, Debra Martin Chase, author Christopher Farley (whose book Aaliyah: More Than a Woman was the basis for the movie)—admitted to The Washington Post that the fan fury leading up to the premiere "was hard to ignore, but you can't dwell on it."

"Biopics are hard," Chase said. "People have an opinion and social media allows them to voice that opinion. But at the end of the day, our goal was to make the best movie possible."

"We're trying to honor this woman and tell this story of this journey and her overcoming obstacles," added Farley. "We felt we had enough of the music to still make a terrific film, and we're excited to tell the story we were telling."